So I went for the iPhone X 256GB Space Grey ordered at 11.40 on the 27th, for click&collect on a Refresh upgrade and nothing from O2 other than the order confirmation, paying a bit upfront and over £70 a month. I just hope O2 truly are applying 'first come/first served', but it doesn't seem to be the case judging by the messages on here.
I also cannot get through to my local O2 store by phone (how ironic!), live chat now seems to have gone into meltdown (and is usually just a placebo anyway, again based on experience and other users messages), the last time I spoke to CS they couldn't really tell me anything over and above the estimated 4+ weeks etc. listed on the O2 site.
At an educated guess it would seem new customers and those not on refresh may be getting priority. Despite all the usual guff about 'it depends what colour/capacity you ordered' - at the end of the day there are four combinations (silver/grey in 64 or silver/grey in 256) - this doesn't account for the seemingly random distribution of someone ordering on the 29th receiving the phone ahead of someone pre-ordering the same model on the morning of the 27th?
It is strongly implied that pre-ordering does give you some element of priority ('reserve yours now' etc). So while there may well be nothing that explicitly states you will receive it on, or as close as possible, to launch day, but if this randomness is correct, doesn't it make a mockery of the concept of pre-ordering?
Being cynical, it could be argued this is simply a means to ensure a nice order intake/revenue boost (by capturing customers interest and orders now, while collecting the deposits), in combination with locking users into a constant 'refresh' cycle thereby also guaranteeing long term recurring revenues.
You can imagine some kind of internal stock allocation flow chart or scoring; Is new customer (yes/no), Is on a high monthly tariff (yes/no), has other devices locked into O2 (yes/no), buy insurance from O2 (yes/no), is ordering the lowest net cost variant of device (yes/no - I'd guess the lower cost to O2 the better on this one) etc etc. So maybe the apparent randomness, might actually not be so random after all - I've seen more than one post saying they set up a new account and received devices almost immediately, despite being told on the old account it would be 'weeks'.
Now just to keep those who seem happy to just be led along (i.e. "don't blame O2" etc), as others have said it is not a case of feeling "entitled" to the device itself and neither am I getting "stressed". We all know it is in high demand and the stories about production capacity are well documented.
What really grates is the apparent ambivalence towards customers (yes, some of who are muti-year loyalists) when they are spending £1000+ on a product; could you imagine if you ordered a new car, expensive TV or similar and the shop took your money, then ignored you and then (at best) is vague or (at worst) downright dishonest about delivery schedules. One amazing aspect of this is that I pretty much had the same experience last year with my 7+ 256GB order, yet O2 either don't learn from their mistakes or just don't care (sadly I suspect the latter). If I treated customers I deal with like this, I doubt I would be in my job for very long.
So, fair enough, Apple haven't a) made enough in time for launch and b) don't provide O2 with shipment details/planning (which is difficult to believe for a multi-billion dollar international company in the tenth year of production of a highly sought after device central to driving revenue/earnings); however if that is the case then be honest and just say you don't know. O2 are keen to point customers towards "tracking" their order, which is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard; all it says it "in progress" until the device is literally out for delivery, at which point for click&collect it will say "complete" even if you haven't collected the device.
In closing it would be really great if O2 cared enough to both learn from this customer feedback (which many companies value and actively seek) and actually respond to their customer concerns either in this forum (without posting meaningless platitudes; see above) - which largely seems unmoderated - or by seeking to contact the customer who is posting. The 'reward your patience' scheme is all very well, but essentially seeks to partially excuse the awful communication, again highlighted by its prominence in any customer facing communication.
So I look forward to the complete wall of silence, until one day in the next "more than 4 weeks" I by chance notice that my tariff has been changed and maybe - just maybe - I'll get a call or text from my nominated store telling me my phone is ready to collect. Needless to say I will not be holding my breath.
